$100 Ideas: Sprayer Boom Monitor

After investing $20 and two hours, Richard Lousberg of Fleming, Colo., can now spray confidently, knowing that all three of his boom sections are applying product. He farms with his wife in northeast Colorado.

"The middle portion of my truck-mounted sprayer is not visible from the cab. One time when I blew a fuse in that section, I didn’t realize I had a problem until the weeds didn’t die in the field I had sprayed. To notify me of an issue, I ran wire from the center boom valve up to the cab, where I installed a license-plate lightbulb directly above my controller and valves. When the valve is open, the light goes on. As an added benefit, when spraying at night, it lights my cab-mounted instrument panel and pressure gauges, which are not backlit."

Adjustable Fence

To keep calves from slipping through the feedline, we installed a bracketed pipe. When the cows are feeding, they push the pipe up; when they’re done, it slides back down. Allowing the cows to raise the pipe keeps us from having to manually adjust it before and after feedings.

Daniel Wipf
Alexandria, S.D.

Tool Makes Quick Work

The thumb screws on our planter meters are often troublesome and time-con-suming to undo. To make it a quick job, I made a custom bit for my power drill. Taking a ½"-round bar that was 4" long, I used the grinder to make a notch in one end that fits perfectly around the thumb screws. The other end is inserted into the drill to quickly tighten or loosen the screws.
Brent John Denker
Sergeant Bluff, Iowa